A 'hair-raising' TSA investigation

'DISTURBING': Following a DHS inspector general briefing on baggage screening vulnerabilities, House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said TSA needs to get new computed tomography screening machines in all U.S. airports — ASAP, Stephanie Beasley writes. McCaul, who called the briefing "disturbing," urged committee members to keep details from the IG report classified but said it included a total of eight recommendations that he hoped TSA would quickly adopt. (TSA later agreed with the recommendations said it's "committed to aggressively implementing" them.)

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Thompson: Almost doesn’t count: Top committee Democrat Bennie Thompson (Miss.) told POLITICO that he found the IG report “hair-raising” and that it did not appear TSA screenings had improved greatly since a 2015 IG audit showing screeners failed 95 percent of covert tests. Thompson said the IG’s findings re-energized his desire to stop the diversion of more than $1 billion annually in TSA security fees for deficit reduction. However, he acknowledged his previous attempts to move a proposal through the House tanked due to a lack of GOP support.

On the sunny side of the street: TSA Administrator David Pekoske told reporters after the hearing that TSA would focus on providing additional workforce training and developing a host of new technologies, including CT scanners, biometrics and automated screening lanes.

GET LISTENING: Follow MT’s playlist on Spotify. What better way to start your day than with songs (picked by us and readers) that are all about flying, driving, commuting and sailing?

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YOU KAN DO IT: The Senate is expected to hold a procedural vote midday today on Derek Kan’s nomination to be DOT undersecretary for policy, with a confirmation vote likely to follow Monday evening. Kan is a former aide to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. He has been serving as an adviser at DOT since June, when he left his job as the general manager of Lyft. Kan also previously served on Amtrak’s board of directors.

BRING ’EM OUT: New rules for Americans traveling to Cuba go into effect today. The highlights: No more “people-to-people” travel except through an organization (with a representative present). The administration put new limitations on some types of educational travel and travel in “support for the Cuban people.” The Miami Herald has a thorough breakdown here. Both Airlines for America and Cruise Lines International Association told MT that they and their members are digesting the new regs.

HE SAID, SHE SAID: Republicans in both chambers, amid loud rhetoric about the inadequacy of the Cuban security regime, have been pushing legislation that, among other things, would require TSA to audit all 10 Cuban airports operating flights to the United States. But here's the thing: TSA says it's already doing that. TSA inspectors have visited Cuba several times since regularly scheduled U.S.-Cuba flights resumed last year. New York Republican John Katko, who sponsored the House version of the bill (H.R. 3328 (115)) and was part of a House delegation denied visas to visit Cuba last year to inspect their security, responded to TSA’s report: “My thoughts are, it’s not enough,” he said. Pros get all the details here.

BALLOT DANCE: Tuesday wasn’t just a good night for Democrats — it was a good night for transportation ballot measures. Seven were approved with just one being rejected by voters. In Denver, a $431 million general obligation bond for surface transportation was approved 73 percent to 27 percent. Athens-Clarke County, Ga., approved a new one-cent sales and use tax and $95 million bond issuance for transportation, 74 percent to 26 percent. Only Allen County, Ohio, went against the grain, turning down a .025 percent sales and use tax for the Regional Transit Authority. (h/t Jeff Davis, Eno Transportation Weekly)

LOBIONDO-N’T KNOW: Rep. Frank LoBiondo will retire in 2019, but he can’t say what he’ll do after his last day in Congress. “I have no idea. Have not talked to anybody. Have not looked at anything,” he told Brianna on Wednesday. The New Jersey Republican said he arrived at the decision to retire “very quickly.”

PARTY LINES: Raymond Martinez got the nod from the Senate Commerce Committee Wednesday to lead FMCSA — but that was the easy part. Bruce Landsberg's nomination for NTSB's board and former Rep. Leon "Lynn" Westmoreland's nomination to the Amtrak board of directors were done by voice vote, though most Democrats were on record opposing one or both. Diana Furchtgott-Roth, nominee to lead research and technology at DOT, moved forward 14-13 split along party lines — no surprise considering the beating she took from Dems at her nomination hearing.

RPC ON ATC: The Senate Republican Policy Committee Wednesday sent out a primer for members on the House's proposal to separate air traffic control from the FAA. Called “NextGen Delayed, Just Like Your Plane,” the policy paper focuses on delays in rolling out the FAA's NextGen program and other arguments that the FAA isn’t right for the job. The paper also notes the concerns of general aviation, small airports and Captain “Sully” Sullenberger, and says that a move to spin off the FAA’s air traffic control functions would “almost definitely” be met with a constitutional challenge.

Curious: Senate Republicans — especially those on the Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over aviation -- have been distinctly uninterested in taking up any large-scale air traffic control overhaul. So the policy paper’s bent in favor of the plan is curious, as is the timing, since debate over the bill (H.R. 2997 (115)) went dormant after Congress passed a six-month FAA extension in late September. A Senate Republican source says the document is meant to give members an overview of the issue, in case they’re asked about it by constituents or industry — not to sway members one way or another.

STICK TO THE RULES: Fifty-one Democrats (and Dem-leaning Independents), led by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), sent a letter Wednesday to DOT Secretary Elaine Chao, expressing their dismay at DOT’s proposed rule repealing the greenhouse gas emissions rule, which allows state and local transportation agencies to track vehicle emissions on the National Highway System and set goals for reducing them. The lawmakers note in the letter that the transportation sector is responsible for nearly 30 percent of U.S. emissions.

ATRI-ED AND TRUE METHOD: The American Transportation Research Institute released its recommendations for funding the nation’s transportation infrastructure: namely, a gas tax increase, which they call “the only meaningful mechanism" for realizing Trump's $1 trillion infrastructure dream. They say mileage-based user fees and tolling won’t cut it, but do support a new federal vehicle registration fee “to fill funding gaps associated with electric vehicle use.”

SAFE AND SOUND: Securing America's Future Energy (SAFE) has some ideas for making trucking more fuel-efficient, starting with performance-based standards for commercial vehicles. In the interim, they want Congress to authorize the use of twin 33-foot trailers — a controversial issue. Read the rest here.

MT MAILBAG: The National Governors' Association and a host of other state and local groups sent a letter to Senate Commerce Committee leaders expressing their "deep appreciation" for the approach they took in their self-driving car bill (S. 1885 (115)) to balancing state and federal responsibilities.

THE AUTOBAHN:

— “Uber in deal with NASA to build flying taxi air control software.” Reuters.

— Via launch on-demand public transit system as alternative to bus service in two U.S. cities. Via.

About The Author

Tanya Snyder covers transportation for POLITICO Pro, with special interests in driverless cars and safety issues. Before joining POLITICO, she was the editor of Streetsblog USA, a daily news source on sustainable transportation and land use. At Streetsblog, she founded and co-hosted the Talking Headways podcast about transit and urban design. Tanya cut her journalistic teeth in radio, covering Congress for NPR stations and Pacifica Radio and reporting on everything from statehood to snowstorms at WTOP, the Washington area’s most-listened-to radio station.

Tanya has lived and worked in Cuba, Colombia, Nicaragua and El Salvador but these days stays closer to home in her transit-oriented Washington, D.C. neighborhood with a walk score of 95. She lives with her husband, Michael; their two children, Luna and Milo; and a cat named after a species of tiny Chilean deer. In what spare time she has, Tanya enjoys riding her bike, rock climbing, salsa dancing and reading Dr. Seuss books over and over.

About The Author

Stephanie Beasley is a transportation security reporter for POLITICO Pro. Prior to joining POLITICO, she covered transportation for Bloomberg BNA. She started her policy career reporting on the FDA for Inside Washington Publishers.

Stephanie is an alumna of Oberlin College and the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She is also a native of Dayton, Ohio. And much like fellow Daytonians, Wilbur and Orville Wright, you could say she was destined for a career in transportation.